(Review) - Logitechhas recently announced a pair of computer speakers that will certainly wow you with their sleek and interactive exterior. The Z-10 is the world’s first touch-sensitive speakers with a multitude of multimedia controls right on the front. And of course, the audio quality is pretty good, too.

While the Z-10 speaker units have the standard bi-amp design with 1-inch tweeters and 3-inch woofers, the exterior is the dealmaker for Logitech. All of the standard buttons, such as power, mute, volume, forward and backward, are located on the right unit, and as we mentioned earlier, they are all touch-sensitive. Needless to say, getting used to the touch-sensitive multimedia controls was a thrilling experience. Even though the response time was quite acceptable, you should still expect some lag between various commands. To give you an idea of the response time, let’s just say they are not swipe-your-credit-card quick. You will have to take your time and adjust to the "swiping" pattern, which isn’t much of a drawback honestly.

In addition to the amazingly integrated controls, the Z-10 is also integrated with an LCD display with a matching glossy exterior, like a lot of consumer electronics these days. What can we say? Logitech knows how to impress. The LCD displays track information (artist and song title), total elapsed time, playlist information, a digital clock and a bunch of other information. Unfortunately, however, much of the song related information is tied to Windows compatible media players exclusively. Therefore, if you are interested in getting the Z-10 for Linux, you may be disappointed. The exterior as usual is attractive, but it’s prone to fingerprint smudges as well, a common drawback to such outer appeal. To further add to the list of features, the Z-10 also lets you add four radio stations in your favorites list that can be accessed with the four touch-sensitive dedicated buttons. All you need to do for that is access your favorite radio station online and press (read: touch) one of the four buttons to add it to your favorites. The only downside with that is the LCD display doesn’t display track information for radio streams, a pity.

In terms of audio quality, we were left impressed with the amount of power the Z-10 speakers held. The audio was crisp, clear and fairly thumping across the various genres we tested them with, but for hardcore music lovers, you may not find them enough. The Z-10 lacks the option to add a separate subwoofer, which may be a concern for audiophiles. For computer speakers, however, the Z-10 does the job very well. With that said, we wouldn’t recommend turning the volume to the maximum level, as they didn’t produce the world’s greatest sound at such highs. Keep them under control and respect their boundaries, and you should come away pleased.

With easy installation (USB), an interactive UI with desirable exterior and mildly thumping audio quality, the Logitech Z-10 is a definite thumbs-up product. For $149.99, they are on the expensive side, but as is the case with a lot of Logitech products, wait for a few months and you should find a bargain on them easily. All in all, another job well done for Logitech!